2/7/12: Week 9, Day 58

NUTRITION

41/147/169

WORKOUT: Bro Day

Bent Over Barbell Row

• 45x10
• 95x5
• 115x5
• 135x5
• 185x3
• 205x3
• 225x3
• 225x3 (PR)
• 205x5 
• 185x5 
• 160x10
• 135x12 

Most sets were very strict Pendlay row form until 225. Once I got to 225 it was all about just moving the weight as a row, more than stay completely parallel. Had good power coming off the floor in all reps. Feels good. I plan to include some barbell rowing in my program and I still need to find working weights for this. I’m thinking around the 200-210 range is going to be good to start and that’s why the weight range is all over the place.

Cambered Bar Curl

• 100x7
• 105x5 (PR)

Getting a little strength work in before moving on to pump work.

Machine Preacher Curl

• 75x10
• 80x10 (PR)

Occluded bicep work here. Getting that extra pump. Had a couple of guys mirin’ all my veins popping out.

Dumbbell Bicep Isolation Curl

• 30x6 
• 30x8 (PR)

Kept focus on a complete contract and hold at the top. Not the easiest thing to do after doing occluded work which complete wipes out my strength.

Barbell Shrug

• 135x8
• 225x8 
• 315x8 
• 365x5 (PR)
• 315x8 
• 315x10 
• 330x8 
• 225x15
• 135x45

I haven’t done shrugs since I pulled my hamstring as it put too much weight on it and caused strain. It didn’t cause any sort of discomfort last night so it was fair game. Everything felt good. Had to strap up once I got to 315 seeing as my grip was a little shot from rows and curls. Reps on 365 were solid and not cheated in any way and I’m definitely feeling it in my traps this morning. The goal is to work up to 405lb shrugs on the regular to push me to assistance for that 405lb deadlift. Again, trying to find my solid working weight here for when I actually do bro out with some shrugs.

Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise

• 20x8
• 20x8
• 25x6 (PR)
• 20x2 

At this point I was pretty much wiped out on grip strength and my arms were feeling a bit like noodles. I should be repping them all at 25s once I work into my regular routine.

Cable Triceps Extension

• 80x3 
• 90x8
• 100x8
• 110x8 (PR)

I remember last year when doing 90x5 was a struggle for me. I’m not sure where all the strength has come from in my triceps, but I haven’t directly worked them since then. A lot of that strength came from all the bench pressing and dips my routines have focused on over the last 6 months or so. Good to see. Should be repping 115 or 120 easily next time.

INFO

Pretty solid day all around. The workout felt great and all my eats were on point. Trying to find working weights in a lot of different exercises that will be in and out of my new program, so that’s why my weight and rep ranges were all over the place. It felt incredible to start being able to do heavy shrugs again with a barbell as opposed to incline shrugging with dumbbells. I definitely feel it in my traps this morning and I could not be happier about that. Oh, and that feeling when 135lbs feels like an empty bar… so good.

The only thing negative I have to take away from yesterday is my grip with my left hand. I jammed my middle finger nearly two months ago on that hand and I still cannot grip tight with it. I have the same problem when benching or overhead pressing, but it really shows when I’m doing any sort of barbell movement from the ground up. Oh well, that’s why straps were made I suppose.

Leaving today at lunch time to start vacation a half day early. I will be Colorado bound to do some snowboarding and relaxing as of 10AM tomorrow morning. PUMPED! Plan to get in the gym and do a little work with legs today, but nothing too heavy (if I have enough time) as I’ll be working them good on the slopes come Friday and Saturday. Still need to go get a bunch of things done today before I leave so I’ll be running around like mad starting at lunch time.

Something that is really resonating with the way I look at training, nutrition and my work ethic is that I truly feel that I’m on another level. Not comparatively to other people in the gym or whatnot, but just personally where I am and haven’t been before. I’m on some whole new level. 

2/6/12: Week 9, Day 57

NUTRITION

41/162/171

WORKOUT: DE Upper

CGBP

• 130x5
• 135x4 (PR)
• 135x3 (6 sets)

Felt real good on this. Great speed off the chest and through each rep. I’ve never actually done any close grip bench pressing before as I already have humongous triceps so I didn’t want to keep working them, but I’m hoping it will help with my regular bench press in the long run.

OHP

• 115x5
• 135x5
• 135x5
• 135x5 (PR)
• 115x9

The beginning rep for each set was a little rough, but each intraset rep was money. Felt good and powerful. I’m coming for that 160lb OHP.

Alt. DB Floor Press

• 60x5
• 70x6
• 75x8
• 80x8 (PR)

First time doing floor presses and I’m in love. Put my hand on a flat bench on the alternate side to keep balance. The movement was very slow and solid. Form was perfect and it felt great. Can’t wait to do this again, honestly.

Cable Crunch

• 145x12
• 155x8 (PR)
• 145x8
• 145x8

I really, really, really need to make sure I get someone to stand on my feet when I do these. I don’t use my legs THAT much, but the weight stack does bring me up off the ground at times. Each rep was done with an extremely slow negative and contraction to keep time under tension for the core.

INFO

The start of week nine comes with a new format to my log. I thought I’d change it up a bit to keep things fresh for me. Also, a few very major things are changing with my log and training. The first thing is that I have cleared all of my personal records and personal bests from my training. I’m starting anew. This is going to give me that desire to do better than last time in every workout and it’s something that I think will really improve my performance in the gym. I mean, I will still remember some of my old bests on certain lifts, but I’m going to really just focus on each lift being better than the previous one as opposed to each lift being better than one I had months ago. Make sense?

Next up on the list of my big changes comes my program. I’ve been debating on what to run next as I have grown tired of 5/3/1. It’s a solid program, don’t get me wrong, but I needed something outside of the monotony of that structure. I’ve ran, what, 4 cycles of it now? It’s worked well, but I have been stalling slightly on a few lifts. I think the change in program and the change in personal record mindset is going to blow up my training. The program I have decided to go with is a customized Westside Barbell template. I’m a huge fan of the WSB systems and after being in communication with several bodybuilders / powerlifters that have run this program it sounds like exactly what I want. Freshness. The program encompasses a lot of lifts I haven’t done before and different styles. After last night’s workout I felt great with some new experiences, so I think this is definitely the right direction to go in.

This week is a short week for me both at work and in the gym. I leave for Colorado on Thursday so I’m going to get three days in the gym to “play around” with the new program. By that I mean that I’m not really starting it yet, just sort of getting accustomed to the new lifts and styles. The Dynamic Effort (DE) days is a lot like the speed work portions of Layne Norton’s Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training (PHAT) program that I’ve run before as are the Max Effort (ME) days. Which, in all honesty, I would run PHAT again, but it is incredibly time consuming in the gym. Five days minimum. WSB will be 4 days and I think hit all my weaknesses extremely well. I’m getting a little off topic so let me back track to what I was talking about.. Again, I’m leaving on Thursday so I’ll hit the gym for the next two days, since I already went yesterday, to play around with the program and then it’s off to snowboard for two days in Breckenridge. Hopefully that keeps my TDEE up high enough.

In other news all my nutrition is staying the same and I’m still eating what I normally eat. I was still seeing decent fat loss before I had my Superbowl Sunday of chaos where I ate everything in sight. I think that is always what attributed to my good workout last night. Mmm glycogen.

That’s all I’ve got right now. Still moving forward on this cut and going into the ninth week. If I was forced to guess with a gun to head I’d say it will last somewhere around 14-15 weeks, but I’m going off the look and feel not the scale or date. With that said..

Buckle in because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Log Updates

2/2/12: Week 8, Day 53

• Trained a friend, was paid in poptarts when I wouldn’t accept money.
• Workout Off
• Nutrition: 36.5/188/173

2/3/12: Week 8, Day 54

• Workout: Bench
• Nutrition: 40.5/178/170

2/4/12: Week 8, Day 55

• UFC Fights - Condit vs. Diaz
• Workout: Squats
• Nutrition: 39.5/150/168

2/5/12: Week 8, Day 56

• Superbowl
• Workout: Off
• Nutrition: No Fucks Were Given

2/1/12: Week 8, Day 52

Intro

Just a great day to be alive. Feeling great. Looking lean. Set my lifting goals for the year and printed them off as a big sign I can cross out when I eat each one. Put one of the signs at my office and the other at home.

Went grocery shopping after work and got hit on by the girl that was ringing through my groceries.

her: How’s your day going?

me: It’s going incredibly well, thank you for asking. How is yours?

her: Much better now that I have a fine man like yourself in my line.

Was able to sleep last night all the way through with no interruptions. This is a first in many many months. I took 10mg of melatonin, which I swore off due to the drugging sensation in the morning, but everything went better than expected.

1/31/12: Week 8, Day 51

Workout - Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1

Pendlay Row:

• 95x5
• 135x5
• 185x3 
• 205x6 
• 205x7 
• 185x8
• 185x10
• 155x12

Chin-Up:

• BW+50x5
• BW+50x5 
• BW+35x5
• BW+20x5

L-Sit Pull-Up:

• BW+35x5
• BW+20x5
• static holds with long negatives

Wide-Grip Pull-Up:

• 3 sets

One-Arm Dumbbell Row:

• 90x12
• 90x12
• 100x5
• 100x5
• 50x8

Nutrition

26/191/165 (40/185/170)

1/30/12: Week 8, Day 50

Week 8, 15lbs of fat down all while eating a serving of Ben & Jerry’s a day and poptarts whenever the hell I feel like it as long as it was ALL IN MODERATION.

Come towards me, brethren.

Not sleeping well. I haven’t slept well in years to be honest, but right now it’s a bit worse. Waking up in the middle of the night a lot. Sometimes due to my arms falling asleep or the occasional bathroom run, but now.. now it’s something else. Woke up last night with incredible hunger pangs and had to get up out of bed and down a few cups of sugar-free jello and a glass of water before being able to get myself back to sleep. I’m going to go ahead and assume I will be incredibly cranky and irritable today since I’m having some hunger grinds. This is good though. This means that my body is trying to fight me going to a lower bodyfat right now. This is called the bodyfat set point and I think I’m about to breakthrough my lowest percentage.

I watched an episode of The Bachelor last night as I was eating my post-workout meal. I’m disgusted with that show and the people on it. How does anyone watch that garbage?

Nutrition was good, but with the hunger pangs starting to come in big waves I’m going to try my best to do what I can to make it stop. My plan of action will be to lower my post-workout shakes to one scoop of whey and spread out some of my meal earlier in the day to the evening. This will result in me chewing my food a bit more which will hopefully satiate me slightly better and also (I hope to God) get me to sleep a little better from eating the majority of my calories right before bed. We shall see.

As far as my workout went I put little notations next to everything, so I don’t need to do a big write up about it. The only thing I’ll say is I’m going to start going to the gym later in the evening. The primary reason for this is the amount of total bro-bags that take up absolutely everything in the gym from 4-7. Going to start getting there around 6-6:30 instead of my usual 5. Again, only time will tell if this will prove to be beneficial.

Workout - Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press:

• 115x5
• 135x3
• 150x2 (PR)
• Took two tries at an over bodyweight rep at 160lbs. The first time I missed, the second time I got it, but had to take a step forward. I won’t count it until it’s strict form. The 150x2 was perfect and felt easy.. which by the way is still a new PR.

Close-Grip EZ Bar Curl:

• 95x8
• 100x6
• 100x6
• It’s nice that 100lbs feels relatively easy to what it has in the past. Going to up this to about 125lbs more for strength focus next round.

Machine Preacher Curls:

• 65x15
• 70x13 
• 75x12
• occluded training

Dumbbell Bicep Curl:

• 35x8
• occluded training

Cable Crunch:

• 140x15
• 150x12 (PR)
• 130x12
• 130x15

Nutrition

33.5/182/168 (40/185/170)

1/29/12: Week 7, Day 49

Played around with a bit of occlusion style training again and I absolutely loved it. I’m really addicted to it and can definitely feel a great pump. I did get quite a few looks and stares while tying turnicates on my arms, but oh well.

I also messed around with the frankendumbbells as I’m going to call them. I found these hiding in a deep, dark corner of my gym. They allow me to put my own plates on the dumbbell to use whatever weight I want. They aren’t the most stable thing in the world unfortunately, but they’ll do for now. Going to put them to use on back day for rows.

Went shopping for a bit, but didn’t end up buying anything. Found a fantastic set of mirrors in a changing room where I was at that allowed me to see my back also. Things are looking great there. I hadn’t seen my back since last cut. I definitely was able to add some muscle to my traps and lats during my little bulk in the fall. I was ecstatic. Someone please remind me how absolutely pumped I was about my back having development later. Also, I need to keep in mind that I felt/looked depleted all of Sunday from lack of good rest.

Today I’m going to attempt a bodyweight OHP instead of the scheduled 150lb OHP that’s on here. We’re just going to go ahead and push for that exciting PR of BW pressing. I’m pumped. God a horrible freaking night of sleep, but I won’t let it stop me!

Note to self: Start doing heavy walkouts.

Workout - Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 - BRO DAY

Dumbbell Bicep Curl:

• 35x10 
• 40x8
• 40x8
• 45x6
• 45x6

Machine Preacher Curls:

• 80x10
• 80x10
• 70x8
• 60x8

Standing Biceps Cable Curl:

• 80x10
• 70x10
• 60x6
• 60x6

Dumbbell Shrug:

• 110x15
• 120x15
• 135x12
• 110x20

Weighted Hanging Leg Raise:

• 20x12
• 20x12
• 20x6
• BWx6

L-Sit Pull-Up:

• 6 reps for 3 sets

Jack Knife Sit-Up:

• BWx25
• BWx20
• BWx15

Nutrition

32/157/179 (40/185/170)

Misc

1/28/12: Week 7, Day 48: Weigh-In

Weight

158lbs

Misc

I was expecting that. I think that weight will stick through this one and I won’t see much of a drop at all this week. It’s likely I’ll see a bit of body composition change, but no weight fluctuation. That’s what I’m expecting at least. Everything looks good and that brings it up to a 15lb weight (fat) loss in a little less than 8 weeks.